The invention is directed generally to agricultural implements for conditioning soil. More particularly, the present invention relates to implements having packer tools intended to achieve a uniform packing of a bed of soil for subsequent planting or to achieve uniform packing of a bed of soil after it has been planted.
Known seed bed packers have a frame which is typically towed behind a tractor or other implement. The frame is supported by wheels and includes a tool bar to which packer tools are connected. The problem with some seed bed packers is that most of the weight of the frame rests on the wheels with a lesser amount of weight resting on individual packer tools. As a result, the wheels often pack loose soil much more substantially than the packer tools. Hence, when a crop is planted, discontinuities in growth can be apparent due to the soil packing differences.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,573 (commonly assigned) illustrates a drawbar packer having coil packers 28 connected to a frame 14 by connecting assemblies 30. The connecting assemblies 30 allow the packers 28 to pivot relative to the frame 14. Coil springs 48 are provided for biasing the coil packers 28 toward the ground. A concern with the connecting assembly 30 is that it includes movable parts that can require maintenance and are potentially more expensive to manufacture. What is needed is a simple, inexpensive and durable system for transferring weight to the packing elements (e.g., the packer coils) of a seed bed packer to provide optimal soil surface condition and density.
One aspect of the present invention relates to an agricultural implement including a frame, a plurality of wheels connected to the frame, and a soil conditioning element. The implement also includes a spring shank for transferring weight from the frame to the soil conditioning element. The spring shank includes a first leg connected to the frame and a second leg connected to the soil conditioning element. When weight is transferred through the spring shank to the conditioning element, the first and second legs flex toward one another. The spring shank is capable of distributing the weight of the frame between the wheels and the conditioning element, while concurrently providing sufficient flexibility to allow the conditioning element to generally uniformly condition the soil, even over rough terrain. In one embodiment, the conditioning element is a soil packing element.
A variety of advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practicing the invention. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.